ELIZABETH FRY. CHAPTER FIRST. TARLY LIFE ELIZABETH FRY was born in Norwich, England, on the 21st of May, 1780. She was the third daughter of John Gurney of Earlham, a liberal-spirited Quaker, "a man of ready talent, of bright discerning mind, singularly warmhearted and affectionate, very benevolent, and in manners courteous and popular;" and of Catherine Bell, daughter of Daniel Bell, a London Merchant, and great-grand-daughter of Robert Barclay, the well-known and able expounder of Quakerism. From this excellent stock eleven children, seven daugh ters and four sons, grew to maturity, and several of them became active and useful members of the Society of Friends, including Elizabeth Fry, Joseph John Gurney and Priscilla Gurney, whose memoirs have been given to the public. From the "Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry," edited by two of her daughters, the following extracts relating to her early life are taken: "In the year 1786, Mr. and Mrs. Gurney removed to Earlham Hall, a seat of the Bacon family, about two miles 1.om Norwich. Mr. Gurney subsequently purchased an adjoi g property, thus adding to the rauge and variety afforded to his large young party, by that pleasant home. Earlham has peculiar charms from its diversified scenery. The house is large, old, and irregular; placed in the centre of a wellwooded park. The River Wensum, a clear winding stream. flows by it Its banks, overhung by an avenue of ancient timber trees, formed a favorite resort of the young people; there, in the summer evenings, they would often meet to walk, read, or sketch On the south front of the house extends a noble lawn, flanked by groves of trees growing from a carpet of wild flowers, moss, and long grass. Every nook, every green path at Earlham, tells a tale of the past and recalls to those who remember the time when they were peo pled by that joyous party, the many loved ones of the num ber, who, having shared with one another the pleasures of youth, the cares of maturer age, and above all, the hope of immortality, are now together at rest! "Of the twelve children of Mr. and Mrs. Gurney, nine were born before their removal to Earlham; one of them died in infancy. The three youngest scns were born after their settlement there. "The mode of life at Bramerton was continued with little alteration at Earluam, till Nov. 1792, when it pleased God to remove from this large family, the kind mistress,—the loving wife, the devoted mother. She died after an illness of three weeks, leaving eleven children, the eldest scarcely sev enteen, the youngest not two years old. During a period of comparative leisure, Elizabeth Fry occupied herself in perus. ing her early journals. She thought it well to destroy all that were written before the year 1797, and to substitute the following sketch of their contents, assisted by her own recollecticns. "Dagenham, Eighth Month, 23d, 1828-My earliest recol. lections are, I should think, soon after I was two years old; my father at that time had two houses, one in Norwich, and one at Bramerton, a sweet country place, situated on a Common, |